On January 19, the US moved to designate JeM founder Masood Azhar, but China blocked the move, as it has several times before.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley during a press briefing at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.(AFP)

The United States was determined to continue the press the case for sanctioning and designating terrorists at the United Nations, Nikki Haley told reporters on Monday.

Though she did not take names, The US envoy to the UN was clearly referring to the move to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar, which the US tried with other UK and France in January, but was blocked by China.

“The administration very much is looking at all of these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list and how we have managed that,” she said in response to a question.

India’s proposal to the UN to designate Azhar, which would prevent member nations from harbouring and funding him — including by Pakistan, where he lives — has been repeatedly blocked by China, working on behalf of close ally Pakistan.

On January 19, the Obama administration moved a proposal co-sponsored by the United Kingdom and France, “as a fresh counter-terrorism effort, as apart of a global move” according to a US official, to designate the JeM founder.

China blocked it on February 2, as it has several times before.

But the US was not giving up, Haley indicated.

“Are we going to have people that veto certain issues? Yes. But that doesn’t preclude the US from acting and it certainly does not preclude us from trying to see if we can change that as well,” she said, adding, “Our goal is to get more done together than we do separately. If we cannot get it done separately then we just move in another direction to still get the same things done.”

“I think you are obviously seeing a very aggressive administration because we feel that in order to lead, we need to act, and in order to act, we need to make sure we have those conversations with the National Security Council; and we are having those conversations with the National Security Council,” she said.